I put in a call for Comcast to come back and install video service again. :-(

History: S3 purchase after four days of a Comcast DVR. Two moto CableCards from Comcast, no issues for months. Switch to FIOS TV when it's available in my town. No problems for a couple of months, then pixillation. Tech comes out, they screw with the router, replace the ONT, mess with the interior wiring, and everything seems fixed. Two weeks later, pixillation. Tech comes out, messes with everything and declares it's the TiVos.

I have two S3s with a total of four CableCards; all show the same problems. Some channels have minor pixillation, others are unwatchably bad, others give me a grey screen since they can't even tune in.

The thing that makes me think that it's the TiVo is that I can switch to one of the not-so-bad channels, and it's flawless for a count of 10, then it starts dropping audio and pixillating. Switch to another channel and back to the first, and it's flawless for another count of 10. That sounds like a buffering issue or something to me.

They use pretty heavy machinery to bore the earth and push the conduit under streets and along curb lines. Perhaps (just a guess) this process is too rough for the fragile fiber. What is interesting in my 'hood is that they did not run conduit to each house, just the in-ground junction boxes spaced around every two or three houses. They will still need to trench to the homes.

time for a little mythbusting:
there is nothing fragile about fiber! Glass itself has amazing tensile strength, the individual fibers are cocooned in kevlar then wrapped in 3mm plastic, and the bundle is inside armored cable. Its almost the same stuff that has been sharkproofed for 20 years under the ocean. Backhoe fades are certainly a reality, but that happens with CATV and power, too.

VZ is not running fiber to individual houses until they specifically sign up for FIOS. Eventually they will replace the copper plant to everyone, but its far easier to let market forces dictate when to yank the copper at each house.

I had posted recently that it looked like the pixelation was fixed on my S3 by removing the card from slot 2 and re-programming the card in slot1. This only worked for a very short time. Now I have regular pixelation even with one card.

I also have observed the signal problems that Gerhard mentioned. My S3 has trouble locking onto the channel when the pixelation is occurring.

My S3 has trouble locking onto the channel when the pixelation is occurring... Has anyone called TIVO for help?

I've had pixellation on the same six FiOS TV "HD National" channels (825, 826, 827, 828, 833, 834 here in Loudon County VA) since I purchased my Series 3 back in February. It's always on these same six channels, and it always shows itself across all six channels simultaneously after the tuner has been locked onto any one of these six for 5+ minutes. If I change the channel on that tuner to any other channel but these six, wait 10-20 seconds, and then tune back, I'll have a solid picture for another 5 or so minutes.

It's very consistent, and very repeatable.

The best theory I've ever heard about the issue is that the S3 is having a hard time keeping the CableCARD paired up when tuned to one of these six channels, possibly because of something Verizon was doing on the fiber side, or something the ONT was doing on the coax side. I've tried everything I can think of on the COAX side to no avail.

I'm not at all surprised to hear that others are experiencing similar phenomena, or that the TiVo HD buyers are experiencing what appear to be even worse problems.

If the Verizon Motorola 6416 works fine, and an S3 with CableCARDs does not, then there is some sort of fundamental incompatibility here. I've never once tried to place blame, because it's useless and I've got an engineering background. I know how this stuff goes.

I just hope enough people experience it such that TiVo can actually isolate the issue. TiVo support engineers: feel free to contact me if you're trolling. I'd be very willing to run some test scenarios with you guys - I'm just completely burnt out on tech support call centers and avoid them like the plague.

It's interesting that those are the only channels you're having problems with since those are the ones that require a CC to decode. But since it isn't all of the CC channels, it may be the frequency those channels are on. If you have a regular QAM tuner, maybe you could do a scan to see if those channels are next to each other.

The S3 may just be more susceptible to signal loss than the Moto DVR. I used to have a Pace STB that was much more susceptible to strong/weak signals than any other brand STB the cable company distributed. But it was still possible to get a perfect picture by tweaking the signal levels (amp/attenuator).

Not sure about VA, but here in Tampa, neither of my S3's have a problem with those FIOS channels and my friend also has a S3 and FIOS and doesn't have problems. I am expecting a TiVo HD soon, so I'll report back once I try it out.

__________________
How good can it be, if it isn't HD?
Ben Drawbaugh
Engadget HD

.......... here in Tampa, neither of my S3's have a problem with those FIOS channels and my friend also has a S3 and FIOS and doesn't have problems. I am expecting a TiVo HD soon, so I'll report back once I try it out.

Ben:
As I reported either here, or on another thread, here in Sarasota I've now developed pixelization problems with some SD channels. My HD pixelization problems have mysteriously gone away. But what's interesting, is that when pixelization issues arise, the frequencies are grouped together. I've isolated my SD pixelization to a group in the 400mhz area.

I called into VZ tech support and they are scheduling yet another service call to my house. But I told them that I need someone that is familiar with and understands cable cards, inasmuch as it's the cable cards that are having difficulties decoding the information and causing the pixelization. Not overly confident that they will be able to fix it (other than suggesting that I dump my Tivo S3 and switch to a Fios DVR) but I have no choice but to start this nonsense again.

It's got to be a distribution center problem, i.e., Temple Terrace or Sarasota. Not sure how their signals are distributed.

Ron,
Since the problem doesn't seem to affect Tampa, I doubt it is Temple Terrance, I think it was more likely a problem in your house (ONT, wires, etc) or Sarasota.

I suspect then, that if Tampa is fine, then it's something either along the way from Temple Terrace or the local distribution point. When I had the HD problems, they did all the wire tests, splitter tests, changed out the ONT, yet still never landed on the cause or a solution.

No resolution to my issues. After over 3 hour visit yesterday by VZ tech, who was inexperienced with cable cards, and spent most of his time on the phone with support, he said that the cable cards have known issues. I got him to leave me a VZ DVR, along with the cable cards, until the problems get resolved.

For anyone interested, these are the frequencies, with the channels in brackets, where I'm having problems:

Besides calling VZ and trying to avoid paying for both cable cards and a DVR, I need to escalate this through technical support, since it's a local problem. Can anyone give me any advice as to how and with whom to approach this? It's not a problem with my ONT, cable, splitters, attenuators. It's a system/cable card compatibility problem.

I called TIVO last week and they suggested that I call Verizon to have them initialize the cable cards. The person at TIVO got on a 3-way call with me and we asked Verizon to initialize the cable cards but The Verizon tech instead initialized my set top boxes. I explained to the Verizon tech that my S3 TIVO did not use the set top boxes but he did not seem to know how to initialize the cable cards as the TIVO never showed any signs of having been initialized. The Verizon tech decided to send out someone to the house to initialize the cards. I had reservations about it since I have already spent hours with Verzion techs at the house while they tried to figure out the pixelation problem.

The Verizon technician who came out to the house was very nice and was willing to do whatever needed to be done to fix the problem. However, I have already spent too much time on this problem and did not want to waste more time. I explained to the Verizon technician that I just wanted the TIVO cards initialized as requested by TIVO but that the Verizon tech who I had worked with on the phone did not seem to know what to do. He got on the phone and called someone at Verizon who was able to initialize my TIVO cable cards within minutes. This time I did notice that the TIVO lost its signal and a TIVO screen came up indicating there was a problem with the signal and that I should contact my cable company.

The pixelation problem seems to have cleared up my pixelation issues for now. I can only be hopeful that it actually did something.

I have been reading this thread for a year and enjoy all the updates. I joined the HD ranks last November, and have had pixelation from time to time on different channels that went away in less than 24 hours, but this week, bad pixelation on 6 channels 825 thru 834. The interesting thing is that not only do I have 2 CC's in the TIVO, but another CC is directly inserted into a Sony TV in another room. Same exact problems!! Had verizon techs out yesterday, and they checked all the wiring, and replaced the ONT, but still pixelation continued in both rooms. An hour after the tech left, everything is fine, at least for now???? I actually record important local shows off the ANT, I hate season passing pixelated garbage, but wonder what am I paying for????

Super smooth FiOS TV install yesterday (just outside Rt128 in MA).
Two Moto CableCards installed without a hitch, re-ran guided setup, everything looks great. I'd made sure to set up the TiVoHD before hand and restart it after a service update, and the Verizon guy had done a couple of TiVos before, but there were no problems at all. Very happy.

Boy after reading all the problems with the S3 and FIOS I'm not so sure I want to switch. It sounds like we're beta testers for both companies. This stuff isn't cheap. I can understand FIOS being new technology implementation and all but it's the 3rd gen for Tivo. With the price points for all this gear they really ought to be rock solid by now.

My HDMI port died last night on by DirecTivo HD unit so now I'm on Component video. :-(

In case you missed this other thread, TiVo will begin offering a $200 rebate on the Series3 for purchases made between 9/16/07 and 1/26/08.

As a recent FiOS joiner (8/16/07) from the DirecTV w/TiVo realm, I have been patiently awaiting just such a deal to get the WAF going. Of course the stars will still need to align for me on getting a Multistream cable card from Verizon.

I just got off the phone with Tivo tech support letting them know of Audio drops/pixeliztion I'm having with FIOS on the SD channels 2-49 and the music channels 6xx. I currently have version 8.3.x. They are aware of this issue and a software upgrade is in the works, but they don't know when it will be available, of course.

Also, I checked the Moto DVR and there seemed to be 'surging' audio on the music channels. After a reset, the Moto DVR was fine. Just want to post my symptoms in case it may help us solve this problem.

had verizon tech our today, checked all wires, splitters, signal strength, and the ont has already been replaced...........still no luck on channels 825 thru 834, intermittent pixelation............tech called it in to network support and they think they know what it is and will resolve it by 3pm today...........Iamb working the night shift and look forward to getting home for MNF. but I recorded channel 60, instead of 826, what faith..............

I had some pixelation on ESPNHD today. Not sure if it's a cablecard issue, TiVoHD issue or ESPNHD issue. Did anyone else notice any issues today during the pregame show? I've only had my cards installed on thursday but I haven't noticed any other issues before today. I also wasn't having any issues on any other channels. The breakup I was getting was really bad too, including audio breakup. Pretty much unwatchable at times.

I just got off the phone with Tivo tech support letting them know of Audio drops/pixeliztion I'm having with FIOS on the SD channels 2-49 and the music channels 6xx. I currently have version 8.3.x. They are aware of this issue and a software upgrade is in the works, but they don't know when it will be available, of course.

Also, I checked the Moto DVR and there seemed to be 'surging' audio on the music channels. After a reset, the Moto DVR was fine. Just want to post my symptoms in case it may help us solve this problem.

I've been having the audio drop problem too!!!

Have to reboot the Tivo to fix it!!!

Is this common???!?!!?

__________________
3 x Tivo Premier Units
1 x TivoHD unit

Every seen the movie office space? These Tivos are in the Xerox II graveyard:

I have been considering purchasing a new HD tivo to replace my S2 tivo, because I find the Verizon Fios DVR seriously lacking. But the topics in this thread give me a great deal of pause. Anyone care to lavish praise on their S3 combined with Fios experience?

If it matters, I am in the Washington Metropolitan region and my husband would have huge problems if ESPN was pixelated during Monday night football or Pardon the Interruption.

I have been considering purchasing a new HD tivo to replace my S2 tivo, because I find the Verizon Fios DVR seriously lacking. But the topics in this thread give me a great deal of pause. Anyone care to lavish praise on their S3 combined with Fios experience? If it matters, I am in the Washington Metropolitan region and my husband would have a fit if

I never had a Fios unit, but my 2 Tivo HDs work OK. They are not as easy to use (IMHO) as my Dish 522s were, but they are OK once you learn them.

I have been considering purchasing a new HD tivo to replace my S2 tivo, because I find the Verizon Fios DVR seriously lacking. But the topics in this thread give me a great deal of pause. Anyone care to lavish praise on their S3 combined with Fios experience?

If it matters, I am in the Washington Metropolitan region and my husband would have huge problems if ESPN was pixelated during Monday night football or Pardon the Interruption.

The S3 works pretty well, that's not an issue. The features are great and it's really more a matter of ironing out the few kinks.

The sound drop thing has only happened a few times, and with regard to FIOS, the biggest issue I've had is with their billing department.